---
10 days later - Midnight, Li Feng's room
The cursor blinked for the last time before the simulation halted.
Li Feng exhaled quietly, leaning back in his chair as lines of stabilized data scrolled across the screen.
The glove's motion sensors had synced perfectly — the gestures translated to text without stutter or delay.
"Version 0.9," he murmured. "Not bad."
Ten days of work, countless revisions, but it was finally done — the first functioning prototype of Silent Hands.
A simple idea, executed with surgical precision. A bridge for the voiceless.
He saved the build, backed up the source code, and minimized the screen. Then, with a thought, brought up the faint blue projection that appeared in his mind's eye — the system interface.
[Skill Dashboard — Current Sync]
• Cyber Security — Lv. 1 (61%)
• Programming — Lv. 1 (60%)
• Software Engineering & Design — Lv. 1 (56%)
• Machine Learning & AI* — Lv. 1 (15%)
• Yi Jin Jing — Lv. 0 (25%)
• Zhan Zhuang — Lv. 0 (18%)
• Meditation — Lv. 0 (30%)
[Passives:] Accelerated Comprehension, Cognitive Resonance*, System Integration*
During these ten days, he had inadvertently been grinding his Machine Learning & AI skills. However, that alone wasn't enough to elevate this skill to Level 1 (15%), no matter how much background knowledge he has in similar IT fields, he'd normally not have made so much progress. He had his passive abilities to thank for that — Accelerated Comprehension + Cognitive Resonance + System integration created a very wonderful synergetic effect.
[Passive ability: Accelerated Comprehension.]
[Description: A resonance born from mastery. Passively enhances pattern recognition, learning speed, and neural clarity — an amplified reflection of existing ability. Allows the host to perceive underlying logic and adapt faster to complex concepts.]
[Passive ability: Cognitive Resonance.]
[Description: A higher-order synchronization between related disciplines. Increases cross-field comprehension by allowing the host's cognitive processes to identify shared principles between distinct skills. The more interconnected the knowledge, the faster the growth.**]
[Passive ability: System Integration.]
[Description: A synthesis of technical harmony formed through mastery across multiple domains. Enables seamless coordination between hardware, software, and AI systems. Enhances efficiency, reduces failure during multi-skill projects, and refines creative cohesion — allowing separate systems to function as a unified whole.**]
(AN: */** — NEW, skills that are appearing for the first time)
Cognitive Resonance was a passive that linked technical disciplines together — a neural bridge that allowed him to draw connections across fields.
When he programmed, his understanding of software architecture deepened. When he studied design, his ability to build functional models evolved.
And now, with Machine Learning in play, those insights fed back into everything else.
Every skill strengthened the others.
As for System Integration, that one had formed naturally after he started combining software and hardware design. It measured his ability to merge different systems into one cohesive unit — programs, sensors, circuits, frameworks — turning separate mechanisms into a single working entity.
He hadn't put much time into it yet, but it was essential for robotics and embedded systems. It would become relevant soon enough.
He stretched slightly, joints cracking in the quiet. The only sound left was the faint hum of the air conditioner and the steady rhythm of his heartbeat.
Just as he closed the system overlay, a soft ping echoed from his laptop.
He turned toward the screen.
A new message had appeared — encrypted, routed through multiple relays, unsigned.
His eyes narrowed slightly.
"Interesting."
He decrypted it layer by layer — standard RSA, then an elliptic curve layer, then an additional sandbox lock.
Once done, the message resolved into clear text:
***
[Encrypted Contract Notice — Priority Tag: Private Bounty]
Client: [Anonymous — Verified Identity Withheld]
Reward: $250,000 USD (escrow held in verified wallet)
Mission: Locate and identify the current whereabouts of missing person — child of a foreign investor, presumed kidnapped two weeks ago.
Deliverables: Confirmed coordinates, verifiable trail, or confirmed death record.
Deadline: 96 hours (initial report required).
Details attached — encrypted in file [f746_ReqDetails.dat].
***
Li Feng stared at the screen for a long moment, expression unreadable.
Two hundred and fifty thousand dollars — a small fortune for a single trace job.
He'd seen plenty of darknet bounties before, but this one was structured cleanly, the encryption top-tier, and the escrow wallet verified.
Whoever posted it wasn't an amateur.
'They're not testing luck,' he thought. 'They're desperate.'
He sat back, fingers steepled. The temptation was there — the kind of challenge that would've thrilled him in his past life.
But experience tempered instinct.
For a job like this, mistakes weren't forgiven.
His current setup — a consumer-grade laptop with modified firmware, dual-layer VPN routes, and a mix of old servers and temporary relays — was fine for corporate security audits or small-time bounties.
Not for high-stakes retrievals that could draw attention from intelligence networks or professional trackers.
He needed upgrades — a proper sandboxing system, air-gapped backups, and self-written routing scripts that could scrub metadata faster than real-time trace systems.
Maybe a custom-built portable terminal — low-power, no OS bloat, encrypted kernel.
He rubbed his chin lightly. 'If I try this now, I might earn a quick payday… or invite trouble I can't control yet.'
He glanced at his digital wallet.
[Current Balance:]
$18,600 — scattered across cold wallets and layered transfers.
'Not enough to rebuild everything,' he mused. 'But enough to start.'
His fingers hovered over the keyboard — then withdrew.
"Not yet," he said softly.
The file with the bounty details remained unopened.
It would stay that way — for now.
There was no rush. Preparation first.
Tools first. Foundations first.
He shut the laptop gently, the soft click echoing in the quiet.
Outside, the moonlight filtered through the window blinds, pale and cold, painting faint lines across his desk — the unfinished gloves of Silent Hands resting beside his notebook.
He stood, turning off the desk lamp, the last glow of the monitor fading behind him.
When he lay down, the faint hum of the air conditioner filled the silence once more — steady, rhythmic, almost like the world itself had paused for him to think.
And in that stillness, Li Feng closed his eyes, drifting towards sleep.
The moonlight traced silver lines across his desk — like code waiting to be written, or a path waiting to be walked.
---
Hello, Author here,
Thanks for reading — Leave a comment to tell me what you think about this chapter, and drop a Power Stone if you're enjoying Li Feng's story so far! Let's grow this story together.